A Dirt Cheap CFast to SSD DIY Solution for Your URSA Mini 4.6K

Some time ago, we’ve covered the Atoch C2S CFast to SSD Adapter allowing professionals to utilize standard SSDs to record in any format the URSA Mini 4.6K camera offers, including 4.6K Raw at 60fps. With a retail price of $599, however, it’s still out of reach for many URSA Mini shooters, so here’s another DIY solution that is roughly five times less costly, yet equally effective. To build this setup, you will need a CFast to eSATA Data Cable, D-Tap to USB Power Cord along with a standard Hard Drive/Solid State Drive Enclosure. Here’s the step-by-step guide of João Felipe Khury who shows how you can put together your own CFast to SSD Converter in less than five minutes by using a few affordable accessories.

It seems that this is the cheapest and lightest setup you can currently build for your URSA Mini 4.6K camera in case you want to record your camera’s highest quality footage directly to SSDs instead of the far more expensive CFast cards. First and foremost, it’s paramount to get this particular CFast to eSATAp cable to make this setup work. Additionally, you will also need a D-Tap to USB 3.0 cable to power up your SSD enclosure. You can easily attach the enclosure to the back of the V-Mount battery itself by using some industrial velcro to keep it snug and tight while operating with your camera.

Once the SSD enclosure is attached to your V-Mount battery and tethered to your URSA Mini 4K/4.6K camera, you will probably need to reconnect the USB cable while the camera is switched on, so that it can recognize correctly the newly attached device. In this particular case, as a media storage unit, João Khury utilizes the Samsung 1TB 850 EVO SSD that is capable of recording 4.6K Raw footage at 4:1 compression flawlessly without any dropped frames.

All in all, this combo will set you back roughly around $100 (excluding the SSD), which is significantly less that any other solution available on the market today. Even though the setup isn’t the most robust one, it could be certainly a viable alternative, especially if you’re working on a shoestring budget. Below, you will find all the links to the items you’ll need to build this DIY CFast to SSD Converter on your own. Alternatively, you can still get the Atoch C2S CFast to SSD Adapter if you need a more professional and robust solution.